March 12, 2016

February has come and gone and we are nearly halfway through March. I had hopes for blogging more regularly in 2016 but somehow that just hasn’t happened. Life is good and keeping me busy! I’m going to scatter this blog post with photos as I let the words ramble from my brain to my fingers.

February is usually a month I don’t care for very much, but I honestly can’t complain about the one that just passed us by. We did have our only two snow days so far this school year (fingers crossed that we are out of the woods on those for the year – last day of school is scheduled for Friday June 17th at this point) but for the most part we have had a very mild winter this year. And well deserved after the winter we had last year. February was sprinkled with some good dog walks with friends, a couple fun get-togethers, and seeing my daughters during my February break.
Meghan turned 21 this February! Wow, I am the parent of a “legal” adult.

21st birthday gift from mom to daughter

Meghan had a ballroom competition in February that I attended. Got to see the new ballroom dress in motion and it looked fabulous! Meghan and her partners didn’t place at this competition. I thought she was robbed but I may be just a bit prejudiced.

A surprise invitation to a great show also happened in February. My friend Sherry won tickets to a performance of Lord of the Dance.

If you’re a fan of dance of any kind and you’ve never seen any incarnation of this show (it has had several versions throughout its 20 year history) you owe it to yourself to try to see a show. The power and talent of these dancers is simply amazing.

As we flowed from February into March, all of a sudden it was time for my daughters’ spring breaks from college. How nice for us that Wentworth’s and Clark’s breaks fell on the same week! On the Friday the girls finished classes, my sister and I got into my car and headed out for a bit of a road trip. First stop, Worcester MA, to collect Meghan and lots of her laundry! Second stop, MBTA train station Franklin MA to collect Sarah from her ride out of Boston. Third stop – Cape Cod to spend a weekend visiting my mother. It was chilly but a great visit celebrating Meghan’s birthday and my mother’s. We went out to lunch,

went shopping, and even had a bundled up visit to the beach.

A harbinger of spring I always look forward to is the spring bulb show at Smith College. There was a fun twist on the show this year, which added elemments from Edward Gorey’s The Evil Garden. Sprinkled among the beautiful blooms

It is the ending Saturday night of spring break as I write this post. My girls are each with their boyfriends this evening, and both will return to school for the final push of the school year tomorrow. Wonderful days are on their way – the official start of spring and more. Hopefully it won’t take me another month and a half to post again about that more!

If we were having coffee, I’d brew you a cup from my handy Keurig and suggest that we go sit out on the deck to enjoy it. It is summer afterall, so I could even make you iced coffee if you’d like.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I saw this image on Facebook this week and really loved it. The words are so very true. I’ve had a bit of each recently: sweat from exercising, gardening and mowing the lawn, tears when I think about both my girls being off to college in a few short weeks, and the sea on a recent quick visit to Cape Cod to visit my mother, as well as spending some time with my sister on her vacation in Maine.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you I spent a lovely day with my daughters this week. I “bribed” them to come with me to Smith College in Northampton so I could take pictures of flowers on the grounds in exchange for lunch in the fabulous town of Northampton and a visit to the Williamsburg (MA) General Store where trinkets and gadgets and baked goods abound. I might stick out my foot and ask what you think of the cute little trinket I purchased for myself for only $5.

If we were having coffee, I would rave about the lunch the girls and I had at Filos Greek Taverna. I had gyro meat for the first time and was questioning why I’d never had it before! The truffle oil french fries were a decadent treat.

If we were having coffee, I probably couldn’t help but lament about how quickly the summer seems to be passing by.

That would be part of the reason I roused my girls from their late morning sleeping to get up and go with me to Northampton in the first place. The days of summer whiz by in a blur, all three of us often guilty of not knowing what day of the week it is.

If we were having coffee, I’m sure I’d mention the weather. Here in New England winter was slow to let go its icy grip, spring didn’t warm up as quickly as I would’ve liked it to, and even here in July, there have been few truly hot and humid days.

According to weather.com, however, that is about to change. Starting Tuesday this week on the 10 Day Forecast, temperatures look to be in the 90’s for a good string of at least 5 days – our first real “heat wave” of the summer.

If we were having coffee, I’d tell you this coming week I will be getting ready for Sarah’s 18th birthday. My baby girl will officially be an adult come next Sunday. Since we just had a big party for her high school graduation, we are keeping things low key for the birthday celebration. A few close friends are invited to come hang out at our pool on Saturday, then my family will come for a cookout on Sunday afternoon, her actual birthday.

If we were having coffee, of course I’d want to know all about what you’ve been up to as well! Will you tell me in the comments?

I must give credit where credit is due; although I read and was inspired by Robin’s Coffee posts, the original idea goes back to another blog called Part Time Monster.

March 15, 2014

Hi there! It seems I’ve taken an unintentional blogging break! My last post was on the last day of February, and here we are, halfway through March.
So where the heck have I been? A few places and busy with a new exercise program too.
Two weeks ago, I started this:
Focus T25 is a series of workout videos from pro trainer Shaun T. You may remember I started his “Rockin Body” workouts back in November. They were great for getting back into exercising again, but I was feeling ready for a new challenge. March 1st was day 100 of this new journey of mine and it was time to step things up a little. I’m feeling really good these days: my energy is high and my weight is lower than it has been in a very long time.

The beginning of March also brought an opportunity to have a breath of spring. My sister said to me, “How about going to the Spring Bulb Show at Smith College? I could really stand to stick my nose into some hyacinths!” I agreed. Here is a slideshow of some of the lovely spring bulbs and hothouse flowers we were able to enjoy:

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In the tropical room, where my lens kept fogging up due to the humidity, Jennifer and I made a special discovery. They have a chocolate tree at Smith College! No really! The source of chocolate, the cacao:

Last weekend, my sister, my daughters and I traveled to Cape Cod to celebrate some birthdays. Meghan was home from school on her spring break so we took the opportunity to visit my mother. Meghan’s birthday was February 25th and my mother’s is today (Happy Birthday Mom!). We had a lovely time shopping, eating, talking, laughing and trying to visit the beach.The view from one of our lunch spots
I say “trying” to visit the beach because the wind was very very cold, but I managed to take a few pictures of the sparkling sea on a deceiving sunny day:

I hadn’t had a photo of my daughters taken together since Christmas time and I really wanted one for my new iPhone, so Meghan and Sarah obligingly posed in the cold wind for a few minutes for this shot:

So, is it starting to feel like spring at all where you are? It continues to be a roller coaster ride weather-wise around here. Temperatures start to feel mild then dip back down into ripping cold with nasty wind chills. Today we are enjoying temperatures in the mid-50’s, but tomorrow’s high is predicted to be 30 degrees. Snow still blankets most of the ground, with a few sections of muddy, brown grass just starting to emerge. Hurry up Spring! We miss you!

I didn’t actually go to any of those places of course, but I did go to a place that can make you feel as though you’ve travelled to these diverse locations. My sister and I went to Northampton, MA, home to Smith College and their amazing annual Spring Bulb Show. In addition to strolling through two packed-solid greenhouse rooms of forced-bulb flowers, other rooms of the Lyman Conservatory are also available for viewing, representing many different climates and their flora.

I hope you’ll enjoy my slideshow of one of my favorite signs of spring in this area:

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I took 124 photos today, so expect a few more flower posts in the next few days!